SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe
COFFEE is the only instant thing Orlando Pirates’ new coach, Joe Frickleton knows. According to him, football is about hard work, patient development of the team, formulation of a winning combination and finding good strikers to put the ball into the net.
Frickleton recently came back to Gauteng after nine years with the now defunct Bophuthatswana league. At first, he joined the reigning NSL champions as the technical advisor, but left briefly before rejoining them as coach. “I was not getting any job satisfaction — my job is to train young players and Pirates has got a lot of them,” he says.
But since he replaced Mike Makaab, Pirates have not won a game. His main target now is to get the Buccaneers back on a winning streak. Most of the players, he says, “are unfit and have lost their confidence because suddenly things went wrong.”
The quick-to-smile Scotsman thinks Pirates desperately need a striker. “Pirates have never had a recognised goal scorer, and the directors have tried various goalscorers, but there has been something stopping them from getting them,” Frickleton says.
To make matters worse, both strikers Marks Maponyane and Marc Batchelor, (who has not played for almost a year) have serious knee problems.
The problem of strikers was apparent last weekend after Pirates failed to capitalise on the many chances they created in Saturday’s goalless draw against Hellenic in Tembisa — in the process, earning them their third successive league draw.
Frickleton does not think that Pirates need any special treatment, because they have many good players. The only thing is to revitalise their confidence. “I will work the same with them as I have worked with other teams,” he says.
He is reticent about the chances of his team retaining their championship and winning their away Bob Save Super Bowl game against QwaQwa Stars, this weekend. “My plan is to try to win every game, I take each game as it comes,” he says.
The defending champions are currently fourth on the log, and will be playing their away African Champions quarter-final game in the first week of September. Frickleton acknowledges that if they are to proceed any further in this continental competition, they have to get their scoring problems sorted out soon.
He says Pirates boss Irvin Khoza and his manager Lawrence Ngubane are busy negotiating for the services of a striker, but he would not reveal his identity.
Frickleton argues that no one coach can single-handedly be in charge of Pirates. “It is too big a club to be manned by one person, you need people around you can trust,” he says. He says he needs someone to take charge of the many youngsters in the team, as he has not been able to give them enough attention. He would be very happy to take charge of them himself, but the demands of the senior team are heavy.
He was not able to say which players would be available for the African Champions quarter final against Mbilinga of Gabon, next month.